Team Nine: Bakumetsu
by SamJaz
Summary: Sequel to my Team Nine oneshot, and now under adoption. Feel free to continue the story as you will.
1. Chapter 1

Hi, a new story from me.

This is a sequel to the oneshot I did called Team Nine. It's about three Genin who failed Anko's variation of the bell exam and get sent back to the academy. I'm assuming you've read that one already, so I don't need to worry about spoiling it.

This story is about two boys in their quest to become Ninja after failing one year ago.

This is Team Nine: Bakumetsu.

* * *

**=] [=**

* * *

I looked myself over in the mirror and considered how I'd changed in the past year. A year ago I was an academy student hoping to become a Genin. I'd grown a good few inches since I was twelve.

I'm Kaito Yamamoto, the inheritor of the Yamamoto clan. It's a pretty minor clan of Konohagakure, but we've got the most awesome bloodline limit ever.

Bakuton: Bomb release. The power to create and manipulate explosions

I know, it's the best power ever, right? Screw the Sharingan, Byakugan, or whatever bloodline you wanna throw at me; I can make your head explode, your argument is invalid!

Still, I failed the Genin exam last year. In fact, out of the thirty cadets in my class, only nine of them became Genin. The rest of us either returned to the academy or were failed as ninja. Hell, out of the 15 that came back to school, there's only five left, including Kota and I.

Oh yeah, Kota Watsuki. He was in the same team I was last year, and we've been best friends ever since. Hell, we've even formed a battery together; He can spot the weakness in anything, and I blow that weakness to hell.

He doesn't have a Kekkai Genkai, but he's really good at noticing stuff and putting two and two together. He's a lot smarter than I am, and is constantly paying attention, trying to learn something new.

Me? I just wanna blow stuff up. It's what I was born to do.

I grabbed my blue Konoha Hitai-ite and tied it across my head as a bandanna over my spiky blonde fringe. Even though I didn't pass last year, Kota and I still got Genin headbands, even though we really didn't deserve them. But, our teachers said that if Anko Mitarashi thought we earned them, then we did, so Kota and I wore them with pride.

Oh yeah, Anko Sensei. She was our Jonin-sensei last year, and she failed us. I'd almost managed to repress that memory.

Anyway, I'm getting late for the academy, so I'd best be going. I shoved on my orange jacket, zipped it up and jumped out the window.

* * *

"Hey man." Kota said as I caught up to him. "Talking to yourself in the mirror again?"

I sighed. "It's my inner monologue, get it right."

Kota smiled. "Sure, whatever."

I smiled back. He'd also changed a fair bit in the past year. He'd bulked out and grown his spiky black hair. He wore a short sleeved burgundy jacket with matching long shorts, and wore his Genin headband around his neck. "Checking me out?" He asked, poking me in the ribs.

"You wish." I elbowed him back. "Hey, you do your homework for Iruka-sensei?" I asked him.

He nodded. "Didn't you?"

I shrugged. "I was practicing my explosion control all night." I told him. "Finally able to do it without fire."

"Iruka's gonna have your ass." Kota pointed out.

"He'll have to catch me first." I laughed.

"Gotcha." Came a voice from behind as I was lifted by the collar. "Been looking for you two."

Kota paled. "A-Anko Sensei!?"

Oh hell no not her again.

I could fell her grin boring into the back of my head. "Come on brats. We're gonna have a little chat."

* * *

It was starting October, and the next Genin exam resit's gonna be soon, so we really wanted to be in class right now, not in this café with this crazy woman.

"Right then." Anko told us once she'd brought us all some tea from the counter. "I assume you know about what happened last month, right?"

We nodded. Everyone did.

"Sasuke Uchiha was kidnapped by the Otogakure," I told her, "And Naruto Uzumaki left the village to train."

"Only that's not the case, is it?" Kota asked her.

Anko was surprised. "Wow, you have improved since last time." Kota always had a natural knack for listening and watching people, and now he's able to work out just when someone is lying or hiding something just from how they talk or how their face moves when they hear something. I don't get how he does it, but it is damned scary sometimes. "You're not drinking your tea." Anko pointed out.

I reached for the cup but Kota grabbed my wrist. "She's poisoned it." He warned me.

"Hey, last time was part of the test!" Anko protested. "No need to be suspicious!"

"You suppressed a smirk when you talked about the tea. You've done something to it."

Right, that's it. I used the poison removal Jutsu I'd taught myself on my drink and watched as the purple mist rose from the tea. "You're right." I told Kota, before exploding the cloud.

Anko sighed as I sipped my now safe drink. "Man, you just aren't fun any more…" She reached into her bag and pulled out a file as Kota removed the poison from his tea for me to destroy. "You ever heard about Yuri Akado?" She asked, tossing us the file.

I opened it as Kota took a drink. There was a picture of a girl around our age with short black hair and a blank gaze. She didn't look familiar.

"Yeah, she's in the year below us." Kota told Anko. "She's got a brother that betrayed the village to join Otogakure right?"

Anko smiled. "That's the one. Anyways, since our last Sharingan user's left the village…"

"What about Kakashi Hatake?" Kota asked. "Though, I suppose an implanted Sharingan isn't hereditary…" Dammit Kota, just how much do you know?

Anko nodded. "There you go. Anyways, as I was saying before I was _rudely_ interrupted…" Kota flinched. "Lady Hokage's gone all anal about preserving the remaining Kekkai Genkai, and young Akado's got herself an especially rare one."

"She can drain chakra like her brother?" Kota asked.

Anko smiled. "Better. Her right arm nullifies chakra flow."

Wait, what?

"What do you mean?" Kota asked.

"We call it Genso Goroshi." Anko explained. "Anything her right arm touches can't use any chakra, be it a person, clone, weapon or ninja tag."

"Whoa, slow down." I asked. "How the hell does that work?"

Anko shrugged. "Dunno. Just that if she grabs you, you can't do ninjutsu, no genjutsu, can't use a kekkai genkai, or use chakra to make yourself stronger, faster or stick to walls." She took a drink from her tea. "She can destroy a ninjutsu cast at her by catching it in her hand, can end a henge by touching it, and your chakra won't defend you from her punches."

"What about the rest of her?" Kota asked.

Anko shrugged. "Same as any other Genin really. She's got enough chakra to jutsu fine, but since only one hand can contain jutsu, she can't make the hand seals."

"So… how does this concern us?" I asked Anko.

She sighed. "Man you are slow. Basically, the higher ups want to put her in a Genin team, but they want her to be safe so she doesn't die or get kidnapped. The natural solution is to put her in a Genin team like everyone else, but with two confederate Genin by her side."

"So why us?" Kota asked her. Wait, this is actually happening?

Anko sighed and explained. "The test I gave you a year ago was a variation of the standard bells test used to imprint the ideals of teamwork and sacrifice into the recruits." True, we'd heard about that from the other rejects. "However, out of all the brats from your class, you two were the only ones to actually get a 'bell'."

Wait, what?

Anko grinned. "Why the hell did you think I let you keep those headbands?" She asked us. "Because you damn well earned them. Just idiot face let you both down."

Damn… so we could've been one of the teams in Chunnin exam alongside our nine other classmates? That sucks balls…

"So, basically we're the only competent ninja around her age that aren't already in a team or is in ANBU."

"Pretty much." Anko said. "This's gonna be treat as an Special Op, so you'll be directly under the Hokage for the duration of the mission and will be granted additional rights in order to accomplish your mission, which is to strengthen and protect the target; Yuri Akado." She looked at us. "Do you accept?"

"Kaito." Kota immediately stopped me from answering the question. "Do you really want to do this?"

"Become Genin?" I asked. "Well, sure, of course I do!"

He shook his head. "Not that. She's asking us to become ANBU."

Wait, WHAT!?

Anko smiled. "You really are observant. So," She asked. "Yes. Or. No?"

I glanced at Kota, who read my face and caught my answer, nodding to it.

"Hell yes."

* * *

"So… why did you come to find us Anko-sensei?" Kota asked while Anko led us to the ANBU headquarters.

"Well…" She shrugged. "I was kinda the one who put your names forward for this, so I was the one sent to find and recruit ya." She shook her head. "Still, you got the mental exam to go through first before you get your ANBU tattoo."

"Mental Exam?" I asked. "ANBU Tattoo?"

Anko nodded and slipped her right shoulder out of her jacket. "See this?" She asked, pointing at the tribal tattoo visible through the mesh shirt. "You'll get one on the left arm." She explained, tugging her jacket back on.

"Right…" I said, turning to a bright red Kota. "Dude?" I asked him.

He shook his head violently. "A-and the mental exam?" He asked.

Anko smiled. "Ibiki will be in charge of that."

* * *

I honestly didn't see what all the fuss was about. The guy in the bandanna basically asked me a load of questions about my sanity and tried to make me confess to something, dunno what. I got some freaky drill thing out which I admit scared the hell outta me, so I did the only rational thing and blew whatever the hell it was to pieces. He must've liked that because apparently I passed with flying colours.

Kota looked pale afterwards though. Maybe the mind tricks worked better on smart people, or maybe drills work on people who can't explode them. Either way, we both got our Tattoos.

"You'll report here every day at oh-five hundred hours each day for the next week." Some guy in a bear mask told us as we were about to leave. "You will be receiving intensive training in preparation for your mission."

Intensive and Training. Those were two words that never spelt good news when they were put together.

Well, either way, time for Udon. "Come on Kota!" I told him. "Udon! My treat!"

"Sorry Kaito…" He told me. "I think I'm gonna just head home…"

"You are kinda pale…" I admitted. "Alright, get to sleep." I told him. "See you tomorrow."

"Yeah, see ya."

* * *

Tell you one thing. They call it Intensive Training for a reason.

I mean, if they're not making us max out our chakra, they're teaching us how to resist torture, or treat wounds, or kill things, or Jutsu. We just did not stop.

When they let us have a short water break, I checked up on my teammate. Whatever was bugging Kota before was gone now. He was completely drenched in sweat and gasping for air, but he looked more determined than I've ever seen him.

"We gotta make this work." He told me. "I am NOT gonna fail ANBU."

"Same here." I grinned. "It's not so tough, right?"

"You shouldn't have said that…" Fox, the ANBU watching us, pointed out. "What happens next is your own fault."

"Huh?" I asked as Kota slapped his forehead and Anko grabbed my shoulder.

"Oh?" She asked. "You think we can work you harder?"

I do not like that grin.

* * *

I was right not to like that grin.

Damn woman doubled the training schedule while laughing her ass off! I need food and sleep.

"Kaito?" Mom asked as I came home. "Where've you been? You missed dinner!"

I need sleep.

* * *

'Course, I can't tell anyone I'm in ANBU, so I had to make up an excuse as to why I wasn't going to the academy anymore when mom and dad got a call from one of the instructors.

They didn't buy special training, so I just apologised and decided to shout at Anko about it.

* * *

"Was I supposed to cover your backs?" Anko asked when I confronted her about it around day four of training. "I don't think I ever promised anything like that."

DAMMIT!!!

"But sure, why not." Anko grinned. "We'll sign you off."

* * *

"And you believed her?" Kota told me as we were doing 500 press ups shortly after.

"Why would she lie?" I asked him.

He sighed as he pushed himself against the ground. "Because it's Anko-sensei." He replied. "Look, was she smiling when she said it?"

"Yeah…" I admitted. "Why?"

"Was it the grin she does when she does something evil?"

…

Dammit.

* * *

So, apparently my excuse is that I'm cleaning toilets for a week as punishment for peeping in the hotsprings.

I hate that devil woman.

* * *

But, thankfully, the training ended a couple of days before the graduation exam. We were given some ANBU uniforms, a short sword each, the basic ANBU kit and our masks, with our ID.

Kota was given a flat, lizard like one with wide, somewhat rectangular eyes with soft horn/ears on each side. "You are Varanus." Owl told him as he handed him the mask.

"Like, a Monitor lizard?" Kota asked as he donned the mask. "Okay."

Owl then got a wrapped up package and handed it to me. "And you get a family heirloom."

Huh? I unwrapped the package to get some kind of demon-dragon mask. What the hell?

"It's Bakumetsu." Owl told me. "One of the few ANBU masked that are kept within a specific family." He put an arm on my shoulder. "There's a lot of prestige in the Bakumetsu between the old members of ANBU." He added. "Make sure you live up to it."

I nodded and donned the mask. "Got it."

Varanus and Bakumetsu. I might enjoy being in ANBU.

* * *

Still, it's not like I can tell anyone. To everyone outside ANBU and the Godaime Hokage herself, I'm still just an academy repeat student.

I can't complain though. The so called 'intense' revision for the test was a welcome rest after last week.

We were told that a similar process to last year's exam was going to happen this year. The main difference would be that we would be joined with last year's class, which is a first.

Of course, it's so they can make sure Kota and I are grouped together with Akado, but the explanation given was because Lady Hokage wanted us to benefit from a chance of a fresh start, and that the graduation to becoming Genin was now going to be decided on performance on the test itself, not on position anymore. There was cheering, but we were told to keep any information pertaining to the test to ourselves and not tell the kohai.

I'm calling bullcrap on that one.

* * *

"Alright, everyone line up alphabetically!"

Now it's the time for the exam, and the four remaining members our class (Yes, one more had dropped out in the previous week) were cueing up for their chance at the mystery test. Hope it's not gonna be like last time, I suck at clones.

Well, I say I suck, but I'm comparing myself to the stuff Naruto pulled during the Chunnin exam. That was plain crazy.

Hell, wasn't he bottom of the class at clones? Just like almost everything else except for henges?

That brought a smile to my face. I liked Naruto's henges. They had nice-

Kota elbowed me from in front. W and Y; there aren't many names beginning with X. "What?" I hissed at him.

He pointed the door into the exam. "There she is." He hissed.

Oh yeah, Akado should be right at the front. Yep, there's Yuri. She wore a tight black shirt that cut off at the right side of her neck, exposing her right shoulder and arm completely, but extended down her left arm into a fingerless glove. She wore matching tight black trousers that stopped at the ankle, where she had the standard ninja sandal, which was black.

Add her shortly cut black hair and her blank gaze, I'm gonna make a flashjudge and call her emo.

The door opened and Kira Ahara from our class came out proudly wearing his headband. Kota and I had kept ours in our pockets for now to not attention to ourselves.

…

Man, long cue is long. Why am I always at the back of these cues?

"Because no-ones family name begins with Z." Kota whispered. Man, he is good at reading people.

* * *

FINALLY! Kota's turn!

A fair few had come out empty handed, which was surprising since everyone except Naruto passed last time, though Naruto apparently did something awesome after the exam and earned himself a Genin headband. Still, Yuri passed so all was well.

Kota came out of the room, pulling his headband from his pocket and tying it around his neck. "See you outside." He told me.

I nodded. Since I was the last student in the room, I didn't even wait for my name to be called before going through.

* * *

"Hey, I remember you."

"Shikamaru!?!?" I shouted.

"He's the other Chunnin in charge of the test." Iruka explained as Shikamaru rose to his feet. "And starting tomorrow, he'll be teaching here."

Wow. He's moved up in the world. "So, what do you want me to do?" I asked, standing to attention. I noticed that there was a fair amount of Hitai-ite left on the table, even though I was the last student. Man, there were a load of failures this time round. Guess this test is gonna be stricter.

"Move." Iruka said.

"Huh?" I asked.

"Shikamaru-kun just got you trapped in a weak shadow bind." He explained. "Your task is to break it before the time runs out."

"How long do I have?" I asked him.

"Thirty three seconds and dropping." Shikamaru explained, his hands in a seal.

Right. Well, I can see how Yuri would've gotten out of this, but how would Kota have done this?

…

Who cares? I'm not Kota.

I'm Bakumetsu dammit.

If there's a problem, I destroy it with my explosions.

**BOOM!!!**

* * *

"You blew up the classroom." Kota sighed when we were outside.

"Not all of it!" I protested. "Only enough to flash out the shadow bind!"

Kota slapped his forehead. "The Nara Shadow techniques work better in bright light you idiot!" He shouted at me. "If Shikamaru didn't defend the fact that you did beat his shadow jutsu by almost blowing his head off!!"

I grinned. "Hey, that's how I roll."

I felt a cold hand on my shoulder. "And how you roll is treating me to lunch." Shikamaru told me. "And Chouji's coming too."

Oh crap. "Where is he?" I asked.

"I'm here." Said a skinny guy with spiky brown hair.

… "Dude, did you lose weight?" I asked.

"Very funny." Skinny Chouji mocked. "Come on, I'm starving!"

I shuddered and Kota put a comforting hand on my shoulder. "I'll see you after tomorrow's day off then." He said.

Wait, you're not going to help me?

Kota shook his head and walked away. "Later!"

DAMN YOU AND YOUR CHEAPSKATE WAYS!!!

* * *

Thankfully, Chouji's going through rehabilitation from burning all of his fat a few months ago, so I didn't end up in debt.

They still burnt through all the money in my wallet though.

Sigh.

Kota's gonna pay for this.

* * *

"And Team Nine consists of: Yuri Akado, Kaito Yamamoto, and Kota Watsuki!" Iruka declared two days later.

Hm. Déjà vu.

* * *

**=] [=**

* * *

There we go. The start of the sequel to my oneshot.

As always, rate and review. The better the story does, the faster I'll update it.


	2. Chapter 2

Alright everyone, update time for Bakumetsu.

I've just left Persona 3: Fairly English Story on a pretty epic cliff hanger, and while I'm waiting for votes to pile up in Naruto: Ours, RWC To send me the script for the next Time Paradox, or for someone to send me a new chapter to beta, I thought I'd write a new chapter for this before I forgot about this story.

Now I want to do some explaining now. There's a reason why I'm keeping Team Nine as a separate story from Bakumetsu, and the reason is that Team Nine is about failing miserably, then going back to the basics and correcting it. I actually did that a couple of years ago when I was held back a year in college. However, I'm now set to leave with three A's and a B grade, one of those I've already got, and the other three are coursework based.

However, Bakumetsu was written because a friend of mine liked the idea and the characters, so I'm pretty much writing for him and you guys here. Then again, most of my other story's protagonist's end up being overpowered, so this'll be a good experience for me in realistic power development. It's interesting to think from Kaito's point of view, as I'm actually a lot more like Kota.

And just so you know, this story will be a lot more character driven than Team Nine. In that there will be character development.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

Kota and I approached Yuri as soon as Iruka announced lunch. We weren't gonna make the same mistakes as we did with Ami. "Hey, you must be Akado-san!" I told her, waving.

She glanced up at us, then looked down and sighed. She just not interested in us?

Kota nudged me and pointed discreetly on her desk. I thought it was black like everything else of hers at first, but it was just covered in graffiti.

_Traitor_

_Die_

_Get out of Konoha_

Those were the readable ones. Hm, no wonder she's so emo.

I clicked the finger and set fire to the desk. "Hey, what the hell!" She shouted, jumping to her feet and stamping her hand into the flames.

The fire was put out instantly. "Whoa." I said. I am impressed.

She slumped back in her seat, folding her arms. "Yeah, it's my Kekkai Genkai." She said. "Genso Goroshi." She said.

"Bakuton." I replied, clicking my fingers to make a small firework. "Kota's boring, so he doesn't have one."

"You mean I don't need one." Kota replied. "So, you wanna go for lunch?" He invited her.

"You're paying." I growled at Kota. "I can't believe you made me pay for Shikamaru and Chouji's lunch last time!"

Yuri perked up. "Chouji? Is he that really fat guy?" She asked.

I nodded sadly. "And this guy ran out and left me to pay the bill!" I shouted. "What kind of evil person would do that!?"

"What kind of nutjob would blow up a classroom!?" He shouted back at me.

"Well how did you get out of the Jutsu then!?" I asked him.

"I sent my chakra down to my feet and short circuited the jutsu!" Kota explained angrily. "That's what we were taught to do!"

"Must've slept through that one." I replied, scratching my face. "Hey, what did you do?" I asked Yuri.

"Same thing he did." Yuri explained. "It is standard procedure."

What? "Hold on, you didn't use you Genso Goroshi?" I asked with amazement.

"Only got it in one arm." She shrugged. "Couldn't really touch the shadow if I can't move."

Groan. "Well, regardless. Kota's paying for lunch, and ladies get to pick."

Yuri got to her feet. "I guess I could go for ramen." She said. "So, you two know each other already?"

"Yeah." I explained, walking with her as Kota checked his wallet. "We were in the same team last year."

She stopped dead. "Wait, so you both failed the Genin exam last time?"

"Pretty much." I told her. "Sucks, ri-" WHAM!

Wow, her punches do hurt.

She stormed off in a foul temper, leaving me on the ground clutching what I think might be a broken nose. I pushed it to one side gingerly. Nope, not broken, just hurts like hell.

"So she still has the chakra in her waist, feet and counterbalancing arm to power her right hook." Kota nodded sagely, standing over me. "Since your chakra is useless to defend against it like a normal punch, it's no wonder she knocked you down in one hit."

I jumped to my feet. "I'm fine." I wiped the blood with my sleeve. "Really."

Kota laughed and passed me a tissue. "Man, the great Bakumetsu, knocked down by a girl's punch."

I punched him in the face, but he dodged. "That supposed to be a secret, remember?"

Kota sighed. "Sorry. Forgot." He shoved his hands into his pocket. "Guess she's not happy about being teamed up with two rejects, huh."

I shook my head. "Still, that'll soon change. And you're still buying me ramen."

He sighed and touched his wallet again. "Damn…"

* * *

We ended up not having time to eat it, so we took four bowls in a couple of delivery boxes up to the classroom as a welcoming present, and almost dropped it when we saw who our new Jonin-sensei was.

I said almost, except we were kinda seeing this coming.

"Ramen?" Anko asked. "Sweet! I'm starving!"

Kota and I sighed simultaneously dumped the two boxes onto a table. Each box had a shelf and could carry two bowls, and it was made of metal to keep the bowls warm. We grudgingly passed them out to Anko and Yuri before sitting down with ours.

"Itadakimasu!" Anko shouted enthusiastically before wolfing down her soup. The rest of us ate normally, though Yuri still wasn't happy about us.

"Right then!" Anko shouted as she finished her bowl. "I'm Anko Mitarashi, and I'm your new sensei!" She declared happily. I was only half way through mine. "This is my second time looking after a Genin team, but the last lot had to be sent back, so you better do better this time!" she said, grinning at us, especially Kota and me.

Yuri put two and two together. "Wait, you failed those two last time?"

Anko leaned back. "Smart girl." She said. "Yeah, they failed the teamwork exercise with flying colours!" Don't make it sound like we failed horribly! "So, we're gonna all introduce ourselves and then skip right to the teamwork test."

"Hold on!" Yuri shouted. "You failed them last year and you're teaching them again!?" She was clearly appalled. "That's too much of a coincidence!"

Anko sighed. "We had a meeting between the Hokage and the nine Jonin Sensei last night." Nine? But there should have been twelve! Did that many people actually fail? "And we discussed which teacher would get what students." She explained impatiently. "I was just surprised to see those two boys were recommended to go in the same team, so I put them on to see if they were any good now." She looked at us two. "Yeah, I asked specifically for you guys. Get over it."

I was actually a bit annoyed that we had her again, but Kota smiled proudly. "Thanks for having faith in us sensei."

Anko smiled nicely. "Aww…" Then the smile turned to her usual evil grin. "SO!" She slammed the table. "Black Parade! You first!"

Yuri didn't appreciate the nickname; even I could tell that. "My name is Yuri Akado." She said. "My right arm can nullify chakra, and my brother betrayed the country and is now a missing-nin."

"You in contact with him?" Anko asked.

"No." Yuri glared.

"If he asked for you to join him, what would you do?"

"I'd kill him." Yuri glared. Whoa, what happened to brotherly love?

Anko nodded. "Good answer. Next, bomberman."

That's me. "Kaito Yamamoto." I explained. "My bloodline limit lets me blow stuff up, and my family is a minor Konoha clan."

"And now for blindy." Anko pointed at Kota. Probably because his eyes look like they're always closed.

"Kota Watsuki." He reported, ignoring the nickname. "My family aren't ninja, so I don't have a bloodline limit. I want to become an interrogator in the ANBU force." Wait, WHAT!?

Anko grinned. "Nice ambition. I was a member of that," She shrugged. "And will probably be going back to that if you don't pass my test." She grinned and held up two bells, each with a tag attached to them. Each tag had some seal written on them with a glowing ink.

"These are anti-summoning tags." Anko explained. "If the chakra is nullified, then the bells disappear." Wait, what? "If the tags burn, the bells disappear." Wait, WHAT!?

"The two of you who can get these during tomorrow's survival exercise get to be in my new team." She grinned evilly. "_If_ you _can_ get these. I might end up only taking one of you on. I might not take any. But at least on of you will be going back to the academy."

She smiled as she stood on the desk she was sitting on. "Training ground seven, seven Ay-em." She sang happily. "Don't eat breakfast before hand, or you're gonna feed it to the birdies!" She sang, before vanishing in a cloud of leaves. I have got to learn how to do that.

"So that leaves your Kekkai Genkai out of the question." Kota reasoned. "So we're gonna have to rely on actual ninja skill."

"I vote Kota leads this one." I raised my arm saying this. "He knows what he's doing."

Yuri growled and spat. "Fine. Who's gonna get the bells?"

"Dunno yet." Kota replied. "First off, we gotta get the bells."

"Gonna be tough." I admitted. "But since you're smiling, you've already figured this out haven't you."

Kota smiled further. "We need shovels; axes, bomb tags, ninja wire and nets, but we can do this."

"Wait, you got a plan already!?" Yuri was shocked at this.

"She told us the plan." Kota replied. "She gave us a rule."

Oh I see. "She told us that the test's gonna be at ground seven…" I nodded. "She's letting us set traps for her…"

"But, won't she be expecting them?" Yuri asked.

"She's a Jonin. She always expects traps." Kota reasoned. "We just gotta make enough of them to catch her out."

"To your house." I said, grinning.

* * *

Kota's family ran a hardware store. His mom and dad made and sold tools for builders and carpenters and the like, so they were naturally the first port of call for building the traps we needed.

We all grabbed a Shovel each, and we also brought an axe, a lawn cutter (Ninja can tell if an area's been dug up recently from the lack of grass, so we're gonna replace the grass we move to better hide the traps), Hammers and nails, And Kota swung grabbed a pickaxe.

"Erm, are we gonna need that?" Yuri asked Kota as swung it over his shoulder like a miner.

"Probably not." Kota replied, spinning it in his wrist, "But I like it."

"Fair enough." I admitted. "Ninja supplies shop?" I asked.

* * *

We worked on the traps all afternoon. We dug the pit fall traps by hand, then braced them, the replaced the surface while I destroyed the removed earth. We used some of it as counterbalances in some traps though, and we tried to be as efficient as possible.

Kota showed us his new water summoning technique to keep our water bottles filled. Yuri was careful to only touch her bottle with her left hand, so I realised that her Kekkai Genkai must be more of a hindrance than a help at times.

Still, by the time it was dark, we were all covered in dirt and sweat and felt awesome despite how tired we were. We agreed to meet at the training ground an hour early to make sure she didn't tamper with any with the traps, and to remind ourselves just where they were.

Yuri called Kota on his promise to buy us Ramen. You should've seen the look on his face, the cheapskate. Since he did let us get the stuff from his house for free and split for the ninja tools, I threw him a bone and said I'd pay.

He practically cheered then.

* * *

Yuri recommended a ramen place called Ichiraku's, so we headed there. On the way we all discussed how we were going to get the bells of Anko, and I noticed that Yuri had tied her headband under her chest.

A nice chest too.

"Eyes up here." She said, poking me in said eyes.

"Ow!" I covered my face. "Sorry!" Sonuva… that hurts!

She laughed. "Whatever. So, you think that'll work?"

Kota nodded. "Yeah, and if it doesn't, then Kaito and I will charge in and attack her. We should be able to distract her long enough for you to grab the bells."

She glared at him. "And why am I not the one in the full charge?" She asked. "Top of the class for Taijutsu you know."

"I believe you." Kota nodded. "But Kaito and I have a year's more experience and we can use weapons."

Yeah, I'd started carrying my ANBU sword around with me. Kota had his pickaxe slung across his back too.

It wasn't a ninja pickaxe. Just a standard, wooden handle iron headed pickaxe; heavy, pointy, and good for breaking things.

Tell you what though. Seven hours of manual labour really brought Yuri out of her shell. Kota, if you planned this then you are a genius.

* * *

He was a genius.

"How the hell did you plan that!?" I asked him after we'd dropped Yuri off at her house.

"You know how loggers and miners are so close to each other?" He asked me, "Like how ninja teams are?"

I nodded. "Well, Ninja teams fight and die together."

He shook his head. "It's the work." He explained. "Teamwork comes to teams that work together. Most working kind of work is manual labour. And what better way to rig a training ground full of traps to turn an unfair match in our favour than with manual labour?" He asked me.

"…Damn Kota. Anyone tell you just how smart you are?" I asked him.

"You do." Kota laughed. "All the time."

"Well, keep it up." I said. "This is gonna be a breeze."

He stopped walking. "No it isn't." He shook his head. "Remember the last time you said that?"

"That was hell…" I admitted. "Sorry. Won't happen again."

Kota nodded. "Right then." He said, catching up with me as we started walking again. "Bring lunch packs tomorrow."

Huh? "Why?" I asked him.

"Because Anko told us not to and I don't want Yuri to get in trouble if I'm wrong."

"But you're okay if I do?"

He laughed. "We've repeated once. We can survive to do it again."

"So you decided who's gonna get the bells?" I asked him.

"Of course." Kota said. "And so have you."

"Huh?" Kota shrugged off his left sleeve to show the tip of his ANBU tattoo.

"Remember who we are and what we're doing." He said as he set off the street to his house. "See ya tomorrow!"

I nodded, then set off towards my house.

* * *

When we got to the training ground the next morning, about a third of the traps had been tampered with. However, as Kota said, that doesn't mean that Anko only found a third of them. As planned, we got to work disabling a couple of the traps and repairing some of the tampered ones, even setting a couple of fresh ones.

Anko turned up right on time, and we were waiting for her at the meeting point inside the training ground. "Arriving!" She shouted as she landed. "Huh. You're up bright and early." She seemed disappointed.

"You seem happy about it." Kota told her. I'll go with whatever he says with whatever Anko's thinking.

Anko grinned. "So, you decided who's gonna get the bells?" Anko asked. "Assuming you think you can get both."

I nodded alongside Kota. "Whoever's the least important member of the team, that person must fail."

Anko grinned. "Alright then. You can start when you're ready."

"Can I make a suggestion sensei?" I asked her.

"Go on then." She shrugged.

"So we can make best use of the forest surrounding us," I explained, "Why don't we separate and hide, then I launch a flare into the sky when we're ready?"

Anko grinned. "Sure, whatever." She vanished in a cloud of leaves.

"You do realise that that will expose your position." Kota told me.

"You mean our position." I replied. "I never said we were splitting."

"Come on." Yuri led the way, knowing where I intended on going. "Let's go."

* * *

No sooner had I launched the flare, Anko charged forward with a frontal attack. Yuri, Kota and I cut the wires holding back the masses of Shuriken and Kunai we had planted earlier, but she was only mildly surprised by the cloud of steel flying towards her and managed to block the ones that would hit her with a couple of Kunai. "Come on!" She taunted. "You have to do better than that!"

We did. I launched an explosion at her, which she burst through with a rolling jump, laughing her head off. "Weak!" She shouted. "Weak, weak, wea-"

She was cut off by a chakra powered flying nullifier punch from Yuri, who sent Anko spinning back and down towards the ground. I moved to catch her as Kota set off the net traps, which Anko cut through easily as I landed and put Yuri down.

"Not bad…" She admitted, looking around as we had her surrounded. I clicked my fingers and destroyed ignited the fuse to the bombs that would destroy the ground under Anko's feet. "But you have to do better than that!" She shouted as she jumped into the trees as the trap became a hole.

Kota grinned as she hit the trip wire we set in the canopy, and a weighted net came down on her. "YES!" I shouted as she was caught inside the net.

Kota, however, frowned a good two seconds before Anko turned into a log. "Substitution Jutsu." He explained. "Find her!"

"On it!" Yuri shouted as she kicked the tree behind her. It toppled over easily, as we'd cut a large wedge last night and replaced it with lose dirt inside the original bark, which snapped under the weight like a toothpick between fingers.

The felled tree knocked down another rigged tree, which continued to do so until it reached a clearing, where Anko was mid jutsu. "Hey!" She shouted. "Have more respect for nature!"

We didn't, choosing instead to run over the felled trees with Kunai in Yuri's hand, Sword in mine, and pick in Kota's had, holding it well up the shaft for maximum control.

He slipped it down his hand for power as he swung a blow that Anko dodged, blocking Yuri's Kunai with her own as she landed in a spinning kick against my sword arm, before twisting into a palm blow that knocked Kota back as he launched a second blow.

No wonder she was a Jonin.

"Not bad not bad at all!" She cried out happily as she caught Yuri's kick barehanded then gave her one of her own. "But you'll have to do..." She grabbed my left thumb and middle finger as I tried to click and broke them. "Better than that!" She shouted over my screams.

It hurt like hell, but not enough to stop me from swinging my sword for her. She kicked up with her knee against my right wrist, knocking the sword out of my arm, then threw Yuri into me, sending us flying into a tree.

We got up in time to see Kota block Anko's Kunai with an earth wall. "Why isn't he attacking?" I asked.

"He's waiting for us." Yuri replied, helping me to my feet as I winced in pain. "How's your hand?" She asked.

I righted the bones in my middle finger and bandaged it. "I'll live." I told her. Thankfully my thumb survived, so I could still use lighter type explosions while the finger healed. "You?" I asked her.

"Ready." She said as she drew another kunai with her left hand. "You take the left, I'll take the right."

I drew a kunai with my right hand and nodded as we both charged.

Seeing our attack, Kota stopped sending chakra to maintain his barrier and broke through it himself with his pickaxe. "RRARGH!" He shouted, charging like a berserker.

We all struck simultaneously, and then got into each others rhythm. Yuri stabbed when I wasn't slashing, and I cut when she was blocking. We both struck to block Anko's kunai when Kota swung with his heavy weapon.

Anko laughed as she kept dodging and countering everyone's blows. "YES!" She shouted. "I like this! You might actually be a challenge!"

We all jumped back in unison and collapsed with a big grin, exhausted but laughing as Yuri held up the two bells.

The two tags had stopped glowing, but as long as the bells stayed in her right hand, they weren't going anywhere.

Anko groaned as she realised that she'd been had, and then laughed her head off. "I am impressed. Looks like you pass. SO!" She grinned evilly.

"Who's going home?" She asked.

Kota and I immediately jumped to our feet as Yuri raised her left hand. "I will!" We both said in almost unison.

"Hey, hold on a second!" Yuri shouted. "You two did most of the work here!" She argued. "You should stay while I repeat!"

I ignored her and decked Kota. "Idiot!" I told him. "How can you achieve your dream if you get held back again!?" I glared at Yuri. "And you've got a newly discovered powerful Kekkai Genkai when we're almost at war with Otogakure!" I shouted at her. "All I can do is blow stuff up." I reasoned. "I can train my kekkai genkai at home under my dad. You guys can't." I turned to face Anko. "Under that reasoning, the most logical reason is for me to return to the academy."

Anko slammed her fist into the top of my head. "OW!" I shouted. "What the hell was that for!?"

"Genin teams are trained in teams of three, retard." She sighed. "I'm surprised people still forget that."

I honestly did. By the looks of it, so did the other two.

"Well, that doesn't matter!" Anko announced. "You all pass! And Spartacus is secondary leader." She said proudly, patting me on the head like a dog. "Who's a good little genin?" She asked, rubbing my cheeks together. "You are laddie!" She said with a grin. "You're a good boy! Yes you are!"

Alright, enough with the dog thing. I ducked out of her grip and walked to grab my sword. She just had to ruin my moment of glory, didn't she?

"And to celebrate!" Anko shouted. "I'm treating you all to ramen!"

I'm getting bloody sick of bloody Ramen.

* * *

"Glad you got the hint." Kota told me afterwards.

"We're ANBU." I replied. "Our mission is to make sure Yuri becomes stronger at any cost. Even if that cost is our lives."

Kota nodded. "So, we're officially genin now…" He sighed. "Doesn't really feel all that different does it?"

"We were already ANBU." I reasoned. "And we got our headbands a year ago." I took mine off to look at it. "Did you know these come in colours?" I asked him.

He nodded. "I think Sakura's swapped hers for a red one." He answered. "You thinking of trading yours in?"

I nodded. "I like black." I told him. "Black cloth against my blonde hair would look pretty nice."

"Cool." He said. "I'll probably swap mine for a red one."

"Hokage tower tomorrow morning?" I asked him.

He shrugged. "We have some time before we meet Anko, so sure."

I noticed that. "Hey, youaren't calling Anko sensei…"

He smiled. "Neither are you. Or Yuri for that matter."

"She isn't calling her sensei or I'm not using honorific's for her?" I asked.

"Both."

I smiled. "Well, don't bring it up. It'll just be awkward."

"True." He felt the handle of his pickaxe. "See ya tomorrow."

I nodded. "Yeah, later."

* * *

"Is that my genin?" Dad asked theatrically when I got home.

I grinned and gave him a thumbs up. "You bet it is!"

He got up and gave me a bear hug. "Gak! Crushing… Lungs…"

"I don't give a damn!" He shouted as he turned around, crushing me tightly. "My boy! Finally a genin!" He let go and I slumped to the floor. "Come on!" He shouted. "I got something to show you!"

He led me into the back storage room, where he got a package from a shelf and handed it to me. "I wanted to give this to you last year…" He told me, "But we traditionally pass it down when you reach genin, so here it is!"

Okay? I opened it up and there was a dark grey jacket made from some rough material. It had a high, stiff collar and the insides were made of a similar material, with a matching pair of trousers. Dad smiled as he tugged at the cloth inside the collar, and the grey cloth at the back fell down, turning the jacket into a longcoat with dark red and bright orange flame cloth lining the inside of the coat and its two tails.

"This is one of the clans best kept secrets." Dad explained. "Many people think that black is the stealthiest colour, but in reality it's dark blues, greens and greys, hence the colours of the standard ninja uniform." Ah, that's why. "That's why the tails fold into the cloak." Dad explained.

"The grey cloth is made from an extremely fireproof material." He told me. "It also serves as flak armour, and we have sets in all sorts of sizes as clan members grow older and larger." Dad folded the jacket back up and handed it to me. "And now it's yours."

"Thank you…" I said gratefully. "But, why do the tails come down in the first place."

Dad's face became stern and he pulled something else from another shelf. "Before I answer that, can you explain what this was doing in your room?" He asked, showing me the Bakumetsu mask.

Crap.

"I- I can't tell you." I told my dad, snatching for it as he pulled it away. "Give it back!"

"Bakumetsu is the other best kept secret of the clan." Dad told me calmly. I lowered my arms and he held the mask in front of his face. "It's a symbol of terror and destruction." He said from behind the grey demon's fanged teeth. "Bakumetsu is a demon that flies through the night with burning wings." So that explains why the jacket tails fold out to show flame decorations… "Those that meet Bakumetsu are burned with the very fires of hell. " Dad continued, removing the mask with a sigh. "I know that there's only one reason why you would have this, and I don't want to hear it."

He handed the mask over to me. "To become Bakumetsu is to become The Destroyer of the Eruption." He told me seriously. "To kill the enemies of Fire and to make them Disappear with our Explosive force." He started walking away. "I wanted you to be older before you took up that mask, but now that you have, make sure you wear it well and become the demon."

He stopped before the door and didn't look back as he said. "Burn any Dread. Destroy any Wall. That is Bakumetsu. That is our clan."

Ade turned around and faced me, asking. "But to become Bakumetsu is also to become Akumetsu; A Destroyer of Evil. Can you do that?"

I nodded without hesitation. "The proof of my decision is marked on my back. It's who I am now."

Dad sighed and walked away. "Just don't forget that you're also Kaito Yamamoto." He said as he left. "And your mothers son."

He closed the door as he left, leaving me with a single question.

"What the hell does that have to do with anything?"

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

Hooo… long chapter and suspense at the end.

So, now you know what Bakumetsu is.

Note how I referenced one of my favourite manga and my favourite videogame in that last scene.

So, tell me what you think. If you have any suggestions on where to go with this, tell me. I don't want to focus on the actual Bakumetsu itself, but I have a few ideas for scenes for it to turn up. All the characters back stories are already down, and I really want to know what's going to happen next other than chasing cats because I really don't know.


	3. Chapter 3

Alright! Bakumetsu time!

First off, thanks for your support for now, and I just want to make things clear, especially about Genso Goroshi.

Genso Goroshi is very heavily based on Touma's Imagine Breaker from To Aru Majutsu No Index. The differences being that Yuri's Genso Goroshi covers her entire right arm, not just her hand, and it still allows for her to use Chakra in the rest of her body, so she can still jump and run alongside her fellow ninja, despite her inability to use Jutsu.

However, this doesn't change the fact that the part of her body with the power is still the right arm of a twelve year old girl. While she could use it to block, say, Sasuke's Chidori, there would be nothing Sasuke from just pulling back and punching her in the face, and if she hold her arm in a firebreath jutsu of some sort, then her arm will get tired before her opponent runs out of chakra in many cases.

This is why she needs three ANBU guards. While her Kekkai Genkai is powerful, she herself is not. If Rock Lee had this Kekkai Genkai, for example, then he would be nigh on unstoppable. But the fact remains that it is in the hands of a twelve year old girl who can easily be physically overpowered by pretty much any ninja. She's awesome, but not practical.

And as for the Genin exam, I did say that it was a weak shadow possession jutsu, one meant to be broken out of by a genin.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

You know, there was one good thing about having Anko as our Jonin sensei. She got tired of doing D rank missions faster than I did. I mean, I got sick of delivering packages and pasting posters as fast as the next guy, but I accepted the fact that we started at the bottom and worked our way up.

Anyway, after only a week since we passed the graduation exam, Anko met at the meeting place with a huge grin. "Guess what!?" She shouted.

The meeting place was a small shrine in the north-east part of the city. It was to some frog god called Gamabunta or something. "What?" I asked her. "You decided to teach us some Jutsu?"

The daily routine consisted of the four of us meeting at the shrine first thing in the morning, doing whatever random training exercise she had thought up of, and then spend the afternoon doing D rank missions to raise our team rank and earn some money.

"Better!" She grinned. "One of you gets to go for Medic-nin training!"

Oh, yeah. Lady Hokage had recently introduced a new law stating that every Genin team had to have at least one Medic-nin in case of emergencies, so I guess it was time for us to start training. "Who?" Yuri asked from behind me, wearing a black Hitai-ite under her chest. I'd swapped mine in for a black bandanna version, and Kota had gotten a red one like he wanted.

"Who wants it?" Anko said. "I don't care who, but once one of you has the basic training down, then we can start doing C rankers."

This soon? "Kota, what do you think?" I asked him. Even though Anko had made me the Genin team leader, I knew that whatever Kota thought was a good idea generally was.

"Either me or Yuri." He said. "You've got two bloodline limits, so your dual natured chakra could interfere with the medical chakra."

"And that's why you suck." Yuri nodded. I'm pretty sure she hates me, despite being a lot friendlier since we first met.

"Anyway, if Yuri takes it up," Kota continued, "Then her healing would only be half as effective as mine would be because of only being able to use one hand," Right… "But on the other hand, it would increase the physical strength of the rest of her body, making her a more valuable asset in battle."

"Well, how's this?" Yuri asked. "I take the Medic training, and while I'm at classes, Kaito can practice his bombs and Anko-sensei can train Kota for the interrogation squad?"

… "That would work." I admitted. "What do you think Sensei?"

She shrugged. "No skin off my back. Have fun!" She added, handing Yuri a piece of paper. "There's the timetable, next lesson is in fifteen minutes at the Hokage tower."

"What!?" Yuri shouted at her. "But the Hokage tower's twenty minutes run from here!"

"Better run fast then." Anko grinned. She is evil.

Yuri glared at her before jumping down the nearest alleyway, then tic-tacking up the wall before running alongside the vertical surface.

"How the hell does she do that?" I asked.

"You can't do that already?" Anko asked. "And you call yourself ANBU?"

"YOU never taught us!" I shouted. "You call yourself a Jonin Sensei!?"

Anko shrugged. "Meh. Kakashi only taught his brats after a month or so." She said. "And that was only AFTER they'd been attacked by an A-rank Missing-nin."

"That's… pretty irresponsible…" Kota admitted.

"Too right it is." Anko nodded. "So you two should be grateful I'm taking this much care of you. RIGHT!" She shouted, slapping her thigh. "Climb that tree!" She continued, pointing to a thick pine tree without any branches for a good fifty feet. "No hands! Run straight up it."

"What!? That's insane!" I shouted. "You haven't even told us how!"

"Just use your chakra dumbass." Anko laughed, sitting down on a small idol. "Use your Kunai to mark how high you get. Last one to reach the top has to pay for lunch."

Kota merely nodded, taking off his bag and Pickaxe. I took of my sword and jacket, grabbing a knife and facing the tree next to Kota.

"You know how to do this?" I asked him.

"I got an idea." He said.

"Any chance of you sharing your wonderful idea?" I asked.

"Not when the bill for lunch is on the line." He grinned.

"Cheapskate." I spat as he kicked against the tree before falling off, landing on his ass.

"Idiot." He laughed as he got back up, making a small cut at chest height on the tree. "Your turn."

Right then… use my chakra… use my chakra…

Wait, if I pump chakra into my feet, then maybe I'll stick?

Piece of cake: I got plenty of Chakra.

I grinned and jumped at the tree, planting my foot firmly against the trunk.

**BOOM**

* * *

I had to get a new tree. Apparently the trick was to get the right amount of chakra to neutralise the opposing force of whatever you're walking up. And not to make my Chakra explode the thing I was standing on.

How was I supposed to know?

* * *

Fourteen broken trees later and I still hadn't got it down.

Kota got it down on a tall tree, so even though I reached the top of my fifteenth tree, he got way higher than me. How is that even fair?

Then again, Anko made the rules so of course they're gonna be crooked.

"You guys climbing on trees?" Yuri asked when she got back from her lesson that afternoon. "I got that down when I was nine."

Stop showing off, woman!

* * *

"Well, admittedly you were at a natural disadvantage Kaito." Kota said over his Udon. "I mean, Yuri's family naturally has good chakra control, and your chakra… well…"

"It destroys things." Yuri tried to comfort me.

"Just stop tormenting me…" I sighed. Even when I tried it on Kota's tree I couldn't get as high as he could without destroying it…

"Well, why don't you ask your dad?" Kota suggested. "I mean, your clan had to have figured a way around it, right?"

"You gonna eat that?" Anko asked me.

* * *

"Clan secret for tree climbing?" My dad answered me when I asked him about it that night. "No, why?"

"We were doing the tree climbing exercise today," I explained, "But my trees kept exploding."

Dad nodded. "Aye, Yamamoto's have problems with that. We normally just explode the ground at our feet and jump up."

"Well, how do we actually climb the trees?" I asked him.

"Explosions at our feet to make foot holes." He reasoned. "You need strong toes, but it's doable."

"Alright then," How to word this to get the exact answer I'm looking for? "How do I manipulate my chakra so the soles of my feet stick to the tree without damaging the actual tree itself?" I asked.

"The normal way." Dad shrugged. "You need to use enough chakra to negate the opposing force from the tree, but too much and you'll blow up the tree."

"My chakra does that anyway." I told him. "How do I get around the bloodline chakra?"

"You… don't." Dad raised an eyebrow. "You need to force your chakra to explode, remember? You just have bad chakra control."

…what?

Dad laughed. "Come on, I'll show you something good."

* * *

Dad led me up to my room and took the Bakumetsu mask from the shelf. "You know that this mask is grey, right?" He said.

I nodded. "Yeah."

"Well, the survivors always say that Bakumetsu was a demon with a burning skull."

Come to think of it, the mask kinda would look like a burning skull if it clearly didn't. "I don't see it." I admitted.

Dad smiled and put the mask on. "Check this out."

I felt his chakra surge and the spikes at the top of the mask and at its jaw glowed a deep orange and moved. "What the hell!?" I asked.

"That's the clan secret." Dad grinned, taking the mask off as it turned back to its motionless gray. "Bakumetsu is invisible when he doesn't want to be seen, but when he does show himself, you never forget his smile." He passed it to me. "Surge your chakra through the mask." He told me. "More you push through, the more the mask changes. Try to only change the colour for now."

"Thanks." I said, taking the mask back. This actually would help my control.

Once dad left, I put the mask on and sat in front of a mirror.

The horns glowed and became fire. Too much chakra.

The mask turned to a lifeless gray, not enough.

I wonder what it looks like if I put loads of chakra through?

…

The gray skull turned white and the horns turned into real flames. The hollow eyes sharpened, and I could swear the smile grew wider.

There was an explosion from downstairs. "Control!" My dad shouted, "Not Power!"

"Sorry!" I shouted, cutting the chakra flow.

Right. Let's do this.

* * *

Next day I was completely knackered, but I finally managed to get it down.

How? I stayed up all night practicing, thus got no sleep.

But hey! I can tree walk now.

…except when I fall off from not enough chakra…

Well, that's why they invented Soldier Pills. I popped one in my mouth.

* * *

Still tired, but I got Chakra to burn.

Literally, first mission of the day was to clear the remains of a house fire. Shifted through the ash for anything salvageable, then destroyed anything left standing.

Another week of this and we're finally up to C rankers.

* * *

Two weeks later, we finally got our first C rank mission.

"There've been some reports of banditry ten miles north-west from the village west gate." Lady Shizune told us as she handed us the mission papers. "Your job is to investigate these claims, then report back with any information you find." I looked at the scroll as I took it. "However, if there is any validity in the claims, do not initiate combat." Shizune-san warned. "You are permitted to fight in the protection of civilians, but otherwise this is a strictly recon mission."

"Let's hope someone gets mugged then." Anko said happily. "Alright! Pack your crap; meet at the west gate in one hour!" She ordered. "Last one there has to carry my bag!"

I was out of there before she even finished the order.

* * *

I ran through the door as fast as I could once I got home, ignoring my mom calling for me.

Once in my room, I immediately grabbed the Flea-Kit and packed my ANBU gear into it, making sure to wrap up the Bakumetsu mask carefully.

A Flea-Kit is a nigh-on indestructible bag that contains 72 hours worth of supplies, a sleeping bag, and a basic survival kit. Granddad had the idea after the clan house was destroyed one time too many.

Come to think of it, that may be why our clan doesn't have land but the other clans do.

Either way, I'm thankful I had it. I was out of there within two minutes.

* * *

I was the second one at the gate, arriving with twenty minutes left to spare. "Not bad." Anko grinned. "Did you even pack?"

"Didn't have to." I replied, showing her the thin rucksack on my back. "Already prepared."

Anko sighed. "Well, maybe the other two will be more fun."

* * *

Yuri arrived ten minutes early with a decent sized rucksack, and Kota turned up five minutes before the meeting time, fully prepared, but completely heartbroken.

"Cheer up lad." Anko grinned as she passed him her rucksack. "At least I'm travelling light."

"What kept you?" I asked him as Anko filled out the immigration paperwork at the gate.

"Had to find the flint." He sighed, before smacking his own head in. "Which we don't need because you're a human matchbox."

"Nervous?" I asked him. He nodded. "Same here."

"OI!" Anko shouted. "These guys need to know that you're smart enough to write your own name! Get your asses over here!"

"And I hate her too." I added as I patted the heavily laden Kota on the shoulder, directing him towards the immigration booth.

* * *

"Now, even though we're walking," Anko said while stretching her arm while we walked down the forest path to our mission's location, "It doesn't mean that your training stops. Why?"

"Because we're ninja." Yuri replied happily.

"Too right." Anko nodded. If I didn't know better, I'd say those two were getting rather close. "SO!" She suddenly turned around and stopped. "List three possible signs of an enemy ninja hiding! One each!" She pointed at Kota. "GO!"

"A bamboo shoot poking out of the ground." Kota replied blearily.

"A puddle when it hasn't rained for months." I replied as she pointed at me. "Ow!" I shouted as I blocked the rock Anko just threw at me.

"But it rained two days ago." She said juggling another stone. "So what could be a sign of ambush right now?"

Think think think… "Dew dropping from an invisible trip wire."

"Better." Anko pointed at Yuri. "Your turn."

"A patch of dry earth?" Yuri suggested.

"Good!" Anko smiled pleasantly. "Onward!"

"Yep." Kota said quietly to me as we resumed walking. "She specifically asked us in order of experience."

"Now!" She shouted, throwing the stone up and down. "Each of those answers are correct, but they could also be wrong." She said. "Why?"

"Dew could be dropping from a spiderweb!" I said quickly.

"Bamboo could be growing naturally!" Kota said immediately after me.

"The earth could be-OW!" Yuri blocked the thrown stone. "What was that for?"

"Too slow." Anko grinned. "Faster next time."

Did I mention that Anko is evil?

* * *

We got to the place we were told about by nightfall. "So!" Anko said as we stopped. "We have a choice. Tokawa Village is another ten minute walk away, so we could spend the night there, or we can spend the night here working on stakeout." Anko shrugged. "I'm up for either, so it's your choice."

"I'm pretty tired." Kota admitted. "Don't know about you guys, but I could do with a decent nights sleep."

"Same here." Yuri sighed. "We decided then?"

I was actually feeling great. I always was a night person, but tired ninja were useless ninja. "Alright then." I sighed. "To the town."

"Cool." Anko stretched. "Then you kids better get a decent night's sleep."

* * *

The village welcomed us with open arms, so all the suspicions are pointing towards there actually being some bandit activity. Especially since we got two free rooms.

Anko and Yuri shared one room, while Kota and I got the other. The guys in the inn offered to throw us a party, but Anko said that we needed to rest, and explained that we were only here to investigate, since the actual removal of bandits would be a B rank mission.

They were disappointed at that, but they saw the logic.

Once we got to the rooms, I pretended to get to sleep while I waited for Kota to start snoring.

"SNORE!"

He snore like a pig and slept like a log.

I quietly got out of the bed and dressed in my ANBU gear, throwing on my jacket and my Bakumetsu mask before opening the window.

"Going somewhere?" Kota asked.

He was also half dressed in his ANBU gear, still putting his shirt and flak armour on. "You seriously didn't think that walk would tire me out so much that I'd pass up the mission I've been waiting all month for?"

"Kota..?" I asked

He put his mask on. "It's Varanus." He warned, before handing me a scroll. "Read it then burn it."

It was black, but had the ANBU symbol emblazoned on it in a darker shade of black. I opened it and read it.

_Varanus and Bakumetsu_

_You will not confirm any claims of banditry._ It read. _You will eliminate any evidence that suggests otherwise. _

"All ANBU missions are to be kept secret from non-ANBU." Kota explained. "The scroll was inside Anko's pack, poking out of the pocket she bashed into me." I set fire to the scroll. "She knows about it," He said, "And she knows I know about it. Why did you think I wanted to get to the village?"

"I thought you were tired from carrying two packs." I admitted.

He slung his sword over his shoulder, leaving the pickaxe behind. "I carry a pickaxe everywhere." He said. "Heavy weights on my back mean nothing to me." He then walked up to me. "This isn't a Genin mission." He explained. "It's an ANBU extermination. That's why Anko is keeping Yuri out of our way." He said. "That's why the Pickaxe stays here, as should your jacket."

I grabbed the jacket reflexively. "The jacket is part of Bakumetsu." Kota's head tilted slightly. "You'll see." I grinned under the mask as I jumped out the window, landing silently on the ground.

Kota soon followed, landing like a true ANBU. "I'm leading." Kota said quietly as he ran silently.

"Who said?" I asked.

"ANBU headquarters." He reasoned. "You're a demon of destruction, I'm a Monitor. See the symbolism?"

I did. "Fine." I sighed. "You do realise that we've been sent to kill, right?"

I noticed the droop in his shoulders. "Yes." He said quietly before dashing silently into the night.

* * *

Forty minutes silent tracking, we found the bandit camp.

We knew it was them from the fourteen large, drunken men, one member of Akatsuki, and one other guy standing in the shadows.

"Akatsuki…" I whispered as I saw the black cloak.

"His name's Jiro Awaka." Kota said, consulting his bingo book. "He's a defect Grass-nin, and a very low level, joining Akatsuki from a Chunin level about three months ago." He snapped the book shut and stuffed it into his pocket. "We can either gang up on him, or you can blow his head off from here."

"Won't he notice my chakra and do something?" I asked.

"His level's too low." Kota replied. "He's a weakass member, still only doing Akatsuki's D rankers."

"You sure?" I asked him.

He nodded. "Anyone important in Akatsuki moves in a team of two."

Akatsuki was a ninja village of criminals and missing nin. Because they don't have family or an economy to support, they offer much cheaper rates, and will do dirtier jobs. True mercenaries.

But even amongst them, you get what you pay for. The Akatsuki guy was even drinking on duty.

"What about the guy in the shadows?" I asked him.

"Not Akatsuki," He admitted, "Most likely a Hunter-nin, judging from her mask and age."

"Her?" I asked him. "You sure?"

He nodded. "She's around our age, wearing a mask but not the ANBU uniform. She's a hunter."

Hunter-nin's job was to hunt down missing-nin, bring the head back as proof, and utterly obliterate the body. Hunter-nin's are a sub-section of ANBU, alongside Root and the Interrogation squad. Traditionally, Bakumetsu was a Hunter-nin, but I've yet to receive the training for that.

Still, if she's a trained Hunter-nin, then she could be a problem, since she's still sober.

"Alright." Kota said quietly. "You take out the Akatsuki, then we move through the bandits, so we can focus on the hunter."

"Not a chance." Said an angry voice above us. We turned around to see a fat guy holding a sword over us, ready to stab down.

I clicked my fingers and blew his head off.

Saved our lives, but blew our cover, since now everyone was looking in our direction.

Well, let's get some Bakumetsu'ing done.

I popped in a Soldier pill and stood up, unfurling my jacket, and forcing some chakra into the mask as it reshaped and caught fire.

"**SO!!**" Whoa, voice distortion on this thing makes me sound really badass. "**Who's ready to die?**"

The Akatsuki guy stood up and leapt for us, rocketing into the air as he pulled out an axe.

I grabbed his weapon hand with my left hand and his face in my right. "**Looks like it's you.**" BOOM!

I let the mangled guy's body fall to the floor as Kota rushed forward with his sword, cutting heads as quickly as he came.

Can't let him have all the fun. I leapt in with my own sword and started killing.

I say fun, but it actually felt pretty horrible.

I mean, it wasn't that bad, and we'd killed before. They made sure of that during the ANBU training. Some criminals needed executing.

But it wasn't a good feeling to cut someone's head off. I mean, your body feels awesome from the adrenaline, but the taste of the blood on your face and the smell of burning flesh…

You don't get used to that.

Another thing I wasn't used to was the fact that the Hunter-nin wasn't doing anything.

"I guess you like to watch, huh?" Kota asked her.

"**Too right.**" She said. Her voice was distorted like mine, but while mine sounded menacing, hers sounded excited. "**Been a while since I've seen you.**"

Huh? What's she talking about?

"**Oh, you a new incarnation too?**" She asked me. "**Same here. Truth be told, you're the first Bakumetsu I've seen.**"

"**First?**" I asked "**Who the hell are you?**"

"**Rakumetsu.**" She said happily as she moved into the light of the fire. "**You seriously don't know about the one who Enjoys The Destruction?**"

Her mask was a dark blue with a widest Slasher Smile I have ever seen. It had narrow, long pointed teeth, and fins on either side of the jaw to make the smile wider. The masks left eye was like a skull's eye hollow, but looked happier somehow, while the right eye was replaced by three horizontal slashes.

One thing was clear; if my demon was a destroyer of evil, then her demon destroys for the fun of it.

"**Varanus.**" I said, sheathing my sword and stepping in front of Kota. "**This looks like my problem.**"

He nodded as he sheathed his own weapon. "Fair enough."

"**Confident bastard aren't you?**" Rakumetsu asked happily as she raised her right hand. "**But I'm not here to fight you.**" She launched a blast of light at me, which I blocked with an explosion. "**So I'll see you later.**" She added manically.

When the smoke cleared, she was already gone. "Alright, what the hell was that!?" Kota asked me.

"No idea." I replied, not sending chakra through the mask anymore. "But we need to destroy the evidence, don't we?"

Kota nodded, stamping out the campfire. "Get burning." He ordered as he backed off from the carnage. "Use that silenced one you told me about."

I nodded before getting to work.

* * *

It was a tiring night, but an even more boring day afterwards. We spent the entire day hiding in the undergrowth, watching for a group of bandits that we knew wouldn't come. Kota found a couple more bandits on guard duty on the way back, and they were very eager to tell just how many bandits there were in their group. Thankfully, the number they eventually gave after forgetting about a few dozen people matched the body count, once we included those two.

We destroyed the evidence and the bodies. The ANBU mission was a complete success, barring Rakumetsu.

Naturally, that meant that the Genin mission was a complete failure, and a boring waste of a week.

* * *

"So there were no bandits after all." Shizune-san sighed when we made our report to her once we got home. "That's good to hear."

She then got four envelopes and handed them out between the four of us. "Here is your pay for a job well done."

Huh? "Um, didn't we fail to find any bandits?" Yuri asked.

"We were asked to confirm or deny the rumours." Kota sighed. "We denied them, therefore it is a success."

"Oh, okay." Yuri nodded.

"Though, Lady Tsunade sure is working me hard…" Shizune-san sighed. "I'll probably be working here all night…"

I caught that. "It'll be warm though." I suggested. "You should keep your window open."

Shizune-san nodded with a smile. "Thanks Yamamoto-kun. I'll bear that in mind."

* * *

"So, what was that about?" Kota asked me after the celebratory meal we had at Anko's favourite restaurant.

"Bakumetsu traditionally reports his kills in the middle of the night by climbing through the window." I told him. "He's a bit of an arrogant prick with a taste for being over-dramatic."

"He?" Kota asked. "You're acting a character when you put the mask on?"

"Yep." I sighed. "That Rakumetsu's probably doing the same."

He nodded. "Be sure to ask for any files on her." He advised. "And for Ranton."

"Ranton?" I asked him.

"Storm Release." He explained. "It's a mix of the Water and Lightning Chakra natures, and a bloodline limit similar to your own Bakuton."

"That would explain a lot." I sighed. "Well, I'm gonna drop my stuff off and make my report." I told him. "Later."

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

There you go. Plot development, first C rank mission, and more plots.

Hopefully the mission wasn't too cliché and similar to what you expected. I liked what I did with it, since it makes 3 things clear.

1) ANBU are killers. It's what differentiates them from the other Ninja.  
2) There are other members of Akatsuki other than the big ten. It's full of lower ranked ninjas who handle the grunt work and bring in money and trust.  
3) Not every dangerous person in the Narutoverse is a Ninja. However, they're only not dangerous to non-ninja, as a kid ninja could slaughter them all in one night.


	4. Chapter 4 Final

ATTENTION!

I'm gonna end this story in this chapter, and put it up for adoption for the rest of you.

Why? Partly because I'm going on my mission soon, but mostly because I've gotten an epic idea for an original story based on ideas from this one, so I'll leave it here at the end of this chapter and see what you guys do with it from now on.

If I do get published, I'll post an announcement telling you about the book.

So, the last chapter I'll write on Bakumetsu. Feel free to write sequels.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

I burst through the window of Shizune-san's office that night to find Kota and Anko already there in their ANBU uniforms. "The rest of us use the door." Anko sneered from behind her snake mask.

"Sorry." I replied, powering down the mask. "I guess you all started without me then?"

"Yes." Shizune-san replied, handing me a file. "Here is all the information we have on the other known Metsu's."

Other known Metsu's? I flicked the file open.

_Rakumetsu is suspected to have the Ranton Kekkai Genkai. Clarification Needed.  
Metsu's are known to meet each other in discussion_

"That's it?" I asked.

"Bakumetsu is one of the villages best kept secrets." Shizune-san replied. "I only found out about it when you became ANBU. In fact, the last Bakumetsu died the night the Kyuubi attacked, fourteen years ago." She turned to everyone. "Back with the debriefing." She stated.

"We can safely assume that Rakumetsu is a Hunter-nin like Bakumetsu." Shizune-san continued. "Because of this, it is impossible that she was hired to serve as an escort with the bandits. It is also unlikely that she was Akatsuki, but we can only assume she is an enemy for now, if not a hostile one."

"So we don't know what she was doing there then?" I asked.

"No." Shizune-san replied. "But we can declare this mission a success." She handed me another scroll. "Starting tomorrow night, Bakumetsu will begin training as a Hunter-nin." She told me, handing me the scroll. "Varanus, you will report to the Torture and Interrogation Squad for similar training at the same time. You both performed well on your first assassination." Shizune-san continued, "So we will continue to expect high things from you as ANBU. Am I clear?" Wow, she is much more professional than I thought.

"Yes Ma'am." I replied.

"Yes, Assistant Hokage." Kota replied. Anko merely nodded.

"Good." Shizune-san nodded. "Report here tomorrow morning as Genin to receive your next assignment. Dismissed."

We all nodded and left.

* * *

We were back to doing basic D-rank jobs with the occasional C-rank. It was dull, but we got some decent training from Anko from it.

What was interesting was the Hunter-nin training I got. I was learning tracking, biology, all sorts.

Within a month, I had some mad skills.

Then, we were given a decent C-rank mission.

* * *

Our C-rank mission was to escort this businessman and his wife to the village of the wave.

My Hunter mission was to eliminate Yoroi Akado as a Missing-nin, who was hiding in a small Sound base near the Wave. Kota didn't know about this mission.

* * *

The trip went without incident, until the first night where I left my post from guard duty because of the shouting.

Our client was knocked out with a bloody nose, and Yuri was holding Kota against the wall.

Kota had bloody knuckles.

Anko then barged into the room. "What the hell is going on!?"

"Kota just attacked the client." Yuri reported.

_What!?_

* * *

I dragged Kota down into the inn's wine cellar and slammed into the wall. "Now what the hell was that about!?" I snarled. "The guy's an asshole, but what the hell are you playing at!?"

"…He hit her…"

"What?" I asked Kota.

"The bastard punched his wife." Kota grunted through clenched teeth. "Bastards like that…"

He slumped onto the floor. "Yahiko isn't my dad."

"Huh?"

"My dad ran out on mom when I was nine, and she married Yahiko when I was eleven." Kota told me. "The reason I became a ninja in the first place was so I could show the bastard how it felt to be pushed around by someone bigger and stronger than he was."

"Kota…"

"I learned to watch him closely too." Kota grunted, eyes glaring for the first time I've ever seen him. "He'd lash out at either me or mom at any second, so I had to pay attention to him so I knew when to hide, or when to protect mom, or when to get him another bottle of sake and hope he calmed down." Kota sighed. "The bastard upstairs is just like him. Absolute scum."

I slumped down next to my friend. "Damn… am I the only person on this team who's not out for revenge?"

"Huh?" Kota asked.

"Yuri hates her brother, you and your dad, and Anko with Orochimaru." I chuckled. "I dress up as a demon and blow people up, and now I'm the one without hate problems?"

Kota laughed. "Kaito Yamamota, the sane one amongst nutcases."

"Yeah." I smiled. "Anyway, you're not allowed within ten feet of the client now."

"I know." Kota sighed.

"And you're gonna catch hell when we get back."

"I know." Kota sighed, sinking his chin into his knees.

"So best earn some brownie points and get on guard duty." I told him, thumbing towards the stairs."

"Yes sir…"

* * *

The businessman started spouting off his outrage once he recovered and threatening to sue us for assault.

I made a boar, ram and rat seal and place my hand on his forehead, erasing his memories of the past hour. "Problem solved." I said, walking out of there before I punched the guy on Kota's behalf.

* * *

Once we dropped the guy off, we booked ourselves into the inn for the night, and got ourselves ready to enjoy the festival.

Yeah, we got there in time for some local festival. Anko spent the evening at a stall that sold Sake and Dango at the same time.

That ought to keep her busy, so I checked out the other stalls with Kota and Yuri.

Well, I did for a few minutes, but ever had that feeling where someone else joins in a game you're playing with someone else, and then you start to feel left out?

That's exactly how I felt. Kota fancies Yuri.

Can't really blame him. She's really cute in a Yukata.

So I left them to it and wandered off into the crowd.

Anko slipped something into my pocket as I passed by her. It was a bingo book with a bookmark in it.

Yoroi Akado.

That's right… I need to track him down while we're here and kill him.

I pocketed the book and started moving through the crowd.

* * *

This kind of thing would be perfect for Kota. He could pick anyone's face from any crowd.

Me?

Nowhere near that kind of skill.

"Hey, Kaito!"

Speak of the devil "What's the rush?" I asked him.

"You seen Yuri?"

I shook my head. "Thought she was with you?"

"She just knocked me out and ran off." Kota grunted.

"Her brother's in this town." I told him, putting two and two together.

Kota walked over to an alley-way and pulled out a scroll and summoned his mask, pickaxe, and his ANBU armour and started changing.

I flicked out my jacket's tails and pulled my own mask from my pocket.

"You were expecting this." Kota pointed out.

"I was sent to assassinate him." I told him. "No matter what, killing Yoroi is my mission."

"And protecting Yuri is ours." Kota countered, strapping on his mask. "So I'm coming."

* * *

We soon reached the Oto-base, which Yuri was sneaking up on.

She was wearing her skin-tight work clothes under her yukata, and was ready to kill.

Or so she thought.

One ninja slammed down on her, stabbing her in the ribs from the back. She screamed, and I had to hold Kota back.

"She's not dead." I told him. "And if we charge in there like madmen, all three of us will be."

"So what's the plan?" He asked from behind the mask of Varanus.

"You monitor." I told him. "I destroy."

He grinned from behind the mask. "Can you give me a distraction?" He asked.

* * *

I crept in through the roof and stood on the beams to scout the situation.

Yuri was tied up, much to her anger, and her brother was dealing with her wound.

"It's not serious, so you'll be fine if you stop struggling." Yoroi told her. "What are you doing here?"

"To kill you, you son of a bitch." Yuri snarled.

Yoroi chuckled. "Don't talk about your mother like that." He replied, standing up. "I don't want to have to kill my own sister." He said, offering his hand. "Please, join us."

Yuri sliced through the ropes with a chakra scalpel and slammed a fist into Yoroi's face, sending him back and signalling the other ninja's to attack.

"**STOP.**" I shouted.

Everyone did.

I leapt from the beam and landed on the ground. "**Fear.**" I ordered, drawing myself to full height and surging chakra through my mask, turning the grey skull into a burning mask of death. "**And die.**"

With a click of my fingers I obliterated the closest five guys as Varanus (Kota) charged through the door with his pickaxe, taking on several nin's at once and grabbing Yuri's left hand. "MOVE! NOW!!"

"Kota!?" She shouted. "So…"

Yoroi grabbed me by the throat and the mask's flames died. "Feel that?" He asked gleefully as I choked, trying to breathe. "That's all your chakra leaving your body and entering mine." He grinned behind his sunglasses. "You don't stand a chance."

I grabbed his wrist. "Burn." I gasped, and his arm exploded in a cloud of red.

He screamed and my mask burst into flames.

"_**I Am Bakumetsu.**_" I snarled, and the entire mask is fire now. "_**The Destroyer Of Evil. I Come From Nothing, Return Almost Instantly, But You Never Forget The Force That Shook The World For The Briefest Moment.**_"

He took my chakra into his body. Chakra like that likes to explode. You need a fireproof body like mine just to stop it from killing you.

"_**And You're lucky.**_" I told him. "_**Because You Can Have The Honour Of Dying, Not By The Explosion,**_" I raised a hand to his face. "_**But By The **_**Implosion.**"

His face forgot the pain for a second and turned to confusion as I clenched the fist, and my chakra in his body mixed with his own chakra source.

Then I opened my fist, and all of his chakra burned, exploding him instantly.

Yuri looked in shock as Kota pulled her away from the scene and I turned to the other Oto-nins.

"_**Now… Who Else Shall Die Tonight?**_"

* * *

It didn't take a genius to work out what was going on, so Kota spilled the beans to Yuri while I cleaned up.

On the way back, we made it clear that while we were officially here to protect her and make her as strong as possible, the real reason we were on the team was the same as her: So we could be ninja.

Our current goal: Get strong enough in time to enter the next Chuunin exams.

I like our chances.

* * *

The night we returned back to Konoha, I entered Shizune's office through the window and handed her a vial of liquid.

"Yoroi Akado's Kekkai Genkai." I told her. "The secrets to his bloodline limit."

"Thank you." She replied, placing the vial in a scroll and labelling it. "Report back here tomorrow for your next assignment."

"Understood." I replied, turning for the window before looking back. "Shizune-san?" I asked her, taking the mask off for a second.

"Yes Kaito-kun?"

"Does it get any easier?" I asked her. "I mean, killing people like this?"

She sighed. "Yes." She told me. "And a part of yourself dies when it does, but as long as you don't do anything you regret, the nightmares will fade."

I put the mask back on and it burst into flame. "**I Am The Nightmare.**" I growled, leaping out of the window.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

Duder, it's over.

For me anyways. You guys are free to use this however you want. If you want permission, ask Ravenwingcorps in my place. He'll probably say yeah, but it's really just a formality.

So… later!


End file.
